Small, handheld computing devices have been steadily growing in popularity in recent years. The devices go by different names, including palmtops, pocket computers, personal digital assistants, personal organizers, and the like. In this disclosure, this class of computing devices is generally referred to as "handheld personal computers", "handheld PCs", or "H/PCs".
H/PCs are small, pocket-sized devices having an LCD (liquid crystal display) with a touch-sensitive screen, a stylus to enter data through the screen, and an input device such as a keypad or miniature QWERTY keyboard. H/PCs have a microprocessor, memory, and are capable of running an operating system and one or more applications on the operating system. Microsoft Corporation recently released the Windows.RTM. CE operating system for use on H/PCs, which is a scaled-down version of its popular Windows.RTM. operating systems manufactured for personal computers.
In the past, the Windows.RTM. family of operating systems has made extensive use of an on-screen pointer that moves in response to mouse movement. The Windows.RTM. CE operating system, on the other hand, is designed to work with small computers that do not use a mouse. Instead of a mouse, these computers use a stylus in conjunction with a touch-sensitive display.
In designing the Windows.RTM. CE user interface, it was desired to maintain the look and feel of the original Windows.RTM. products as much as possible. Thus, an attempt was made to simulate mouse actions with the stylus. Thus, touching an on-screen control with the stylus is equivalent to single-clicking a mouse when the pointer has been positioned over an on-screen control. Double-tapping a control with the stylus is equivalent to double-clicking with a mouse.
Some functions and user interface characteristics, however, are difficult to achieve with a stylus. Control usage tips, referred to within the Windows.RTM. operating systems as "ToolTips," are an example of a feature that could not be implemented with a stylus-based system as it had been in previous mouse-based systems. In a mouse-based system, the displayed on-screen pointer was moved over a control and the control was then selected by clicking the left mouse button. If the pointer was allowed to remain stationary over a control without clicking, a small, temporary, pop-up window appeared containing a tip about the control. This tip might have been a single word or a short phrase indicating the function of the control. For example, a usage tip for a "print" button might have been simply the word "print".
In a stylus-based system, there is no apparent equivalent for the process of moving a mouse pointer over an on-screen control and leaving it there for a ToolTip to appear--there is no mouse pointer in a stylus-based system. However, the inventors have developed a way to incorporate ToolTips in the Windows.RTM. CE environment in a way that becomes very intuitive after only brief usage.